The Commoner
VOL. 18, No. M
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Wesident's Woman Suffrage Appeal
President "Wilson addressed tho United States
Bonato on Soptombor 30, advocating tho im
mediate passago of the woman suffrage resolu
tion as a "war measure. The special message of.
tho President, delivered amid impressive sur
" roundings, was tho supremo effort of tho Pre
sident in tho suffrage cause, and while it did
not result in changing a vote at this time, tho
address was an earnest and telling appeal. Tho
President's address in full follows:
"Mr. Vico President and gentlemen of tho
Senate, the unusual circumstances of a world
war in which we stand and are Judged in tho
view not only of our own people and of our own
consciences but also in view of all nations and
peoples will, I hope, Justify in your thought, as
it does in mine, tho message I have como to
bring you. I regard the concurrence of tho
senate in tho constitutional amendment propos
ing tho extension of tho suffrage to women as
vitally essential to tho successful prosecution of
tho great war of humanity in which wo aro en
gaged. I havo como to urge upon you tho con
siderations which havo led mo to that conclu
sion. It is not only my priviloge, it is also my
duty to appraise you of every circumstance and
olomcnt involved in this momontous struggle
whjeh seems to mo to affect its very processes
and Its outcome. It is my duty to win tho war
and to ask you to remove every obstacle that
stands in tho way of winning-it.
BOTH PARTIES ARE PLEDGED
"I had assumed that tho senate would concur
in tho amendment because no disputable prin
ciple is involved but only a question of- tho
method by which tho suffrago is to be oxtended
to women. Thero is and can bo no party issue
involved in it. Both of our great national parties
aro pledged, explicitly pledged, to equality of
suffrago for tho women of tho country. Neither
party, thorofore, it seems to me, can Justify
hesitation as to tho method of qbtaining it, can
rightfully hesitate to substitute federal initiative
for stato initjativo, if tho early adoption of tho
measure is necessary to tho successful prosecu
tion of tho war and if the method of state action
proposod in the party platforms of 1&16 is im
practicable within any reasonable length of time,
if practicable at all. And its adoption is, in mf
Judgment, clearly necessary to the prosecution
of tho war and tho successful realization of the
objects for which the war is being fought.
"That Judgment I take the liberty of urging
upon you with solemn earnestness for reasons
which I shall state very frankly and which I
shall hopo will seem conclusive to you as they
have seemed to me.
PROVE WORDS BY DEEDS
"This is a peoples' war and the peoples' think
ing constitutes its atmosphere and morale not
tho predilections of the drawing room or the
political considerations of the caucus. If wo bo
Indeed democrats and wish to lead the world to
democracy, wo can ask other peoples to accept
hi proof of our sincerity and our ability to lead
thorn whither they -wish to be led nothing less
persuasive and convincing than our actions Our
professions will not sufflco. Verification must
bo forthcoming when verification is asked for.
And in this case verification is asked for
asked for in this particular matter. You ask'by
whom? Not through diplomatic channels; not
by foreign ministers. Not by tho intimations of
parliaments. It is asked for by the anxious
expectant, suffering peoples with whom wo are
dealing and who are" willing to put their des
tinies in somo measure in our hands, if they are
sure that wo wish the same things that thly
wish. I do not speak by conjecture., It is not
alone the voices of statesmen and .of newspapers
that reach me, and the voices of foolish and
intomporato agitators do not reach me at all
Through many, many channels I have been mado
aware what the plain, struggling, workaday fo Ik
are thinking upon whom tho chief terror an 1
suffering of this tragic war falls. They are
look ne to tho great powerful, famous democracy
of tho west to lead them to the new day for
which they havo so long waited; and they think
- n theiv logical simplicity, that democracj means
that women shall play their part in affairs along
sido men and upon an equal footing with them
If- wo reject measures like this, in ignorance 'or'
defiance of. what a now ajfe has brought forth
of what they have seen but wo have not. thov
will cease to follow or to trust us. They havi
' '
VOTE ON SUFFRAGE
In tho United States sdnate,October 1,
tho Susan B. Anthony amendment to the
federal constitution, providing for equal
suffrage, failed to receive the required
two-thirds vote. Tho roll call showed 63 .
senators voting for the resolution and
31 against. Including the absent and
paired senators, the exact strength of
each side-stands 62 to 34, the suffrag-
ists lacking Just two votes of having
enough to submit the measure to the
state legislatures for ratification. The
resolution has been pending in the
senate since last January, when it was
passed by tho house.
Before the vote "was announced, Sen-
ator Jonos of New Mexico, chairman of
the woman suffrago committee, in order
to comply with parliamentary require-
monts, changed his vote from 'aye to no
and moved that the senate reconsider:
This mado the final official record 53 to
- 31, and left the resolution technically
pending on the senate calendar, in posi-
tion for further consideration after the
November elections, when the suffrage
forces hope to muster the requisite num-
ber of votes.
Tho official record of the vote after
Chairman Jones' change follows:
Democrats for: Ashurst( Chamberlain, ,
Culberson, Gerry, Gore,' Henderson,
Johnson of South Dakota, Kendrlck,
Klrby, Lewis, McKellar, Martin of Ken-
. tucky, Myers, Nugent, Owen, Phelan,
Plttman, Ransdell, Robinson, Shafroth,
Sheppard, Smith of Arizona, Thomas,4
Thompson, Vardaman and Walsh 26.
' Republicans: Calder, Colt, Cummins,'
Curtis, Fernald, France, GOff, Gronna,
Jones of Washington, Kellogg, Kenvon
JLaFollette, Lenroot, McCumber, McNary,
Nelson, 'New, Norris, Page, Poindexter,
Smith of Michigan, Smoot, Sterling,
Southeiiand, Townsend, Warren and
Watson 27. For' 53.
Democrats against: Bankhead, Benet,
Fletcher, Guion, Hanhvick, Hitchcock,
Jones of New Mexico, Martin of Virginia,
Overman, Pomerene, Reed, Saulsbiiry,
Shields, Simmons, Smith of Georgia,
Smith Of Maryland, Smith of South Caro- -
Una, Trammell, Underwood, Williams
and Wolcott 21.
Republicans: Baird, Brandegee, Dil-
lingham, Drew, Hale Lodge,' McLean,
Penrose, Wadsworth and Weeks 10.
Against 31.
The following senators were paired:
Beckham of Kentucky, democrat,
against, with Hollis of New Hampshire,
democrat, and Frelinghuysen, of New
Jersey, republican; Borah of Idaho,
republican, against, with Fall of New
Mexico, and Harding of Ohio, repub-
licans; Knox of Pennsylvania, repub-
lican, against, "with Johnson of Califor-
nia, and Sherman of Illinois, repub-
licans; Swanson of Virginia, democrat,
against, with Wilfley of Missouri, and.
King of Utalv democrats. (?,
-
4 0-
sefen their own governments accept this inter
pretation of democracy,- seen old governments
like Great Britain, which did not profess to be
democratic, promise readily and as of course this
fHt0Wmen' though the had fore re
fused it, the Btrange revelations of this war hav
ing made many things new and plain, to covl
ernments as well as to peoples.
WOMEN'S WAR AID SUPERB
"Are we alone to refuse to learn the lesson
Are we alone to ask and take, the utmost that
women can give, service and sacrificed everv
S'nV? Bt,i Say that we d0 nt 6e what
title that gives them to stand by our sides in tho
guidance of the affairs of their natioirand ours?
We have made partners of the women in thi
war; shall wo admit them only to nVnJn
ship of sacrificed sufferingdnd'U $S
to a partnership, of privilege and of rleht? ,
ar could not have been fought, either bvn
other nations engaged or by America If i
not been for tho " services of the L nl
in the fields of effort in which 'wo havfi?
iiuuuDiumcu tu ou tuern wont, out wherever m
havo worked andupon the very skirts and JE?
of, the battle itself. We shall not only bo T
trusted but shall deserve to be distrusted if T
do not enfranchise them with tho fullest 21
sible enfranchisement, as it is now certaiirE
the other great free nations will enfranctS
them. We cannot "Msolate our thought or on!
action in such a matter from the thoueM ft I
mc icoi v. vuo, uvwu, Tc ujubi miner contora
or deliberately reject what they propose and
resign tho leadership of liberal minds to otherj.
"The women of America are too noble and too
intelligent and too devoted to be slacken
whether you give or withhold this thing that
is mere justice; but I know tho made It win
work in their thoughts and spirits If you give
11 uiem. 1 propose it as i wouiu propose to ad
mit soldiers to the suffrage, tho men fighting In
the field for our liberties and the liberties o!
the world, were they excluded. The tasks of the
women lie at the very heart of the war, and I
know how much stronger that heart will beat II
you do this just thing and show our women that
you trust them as much -as you in fact and ol
necessity depend upon. them.
SOLUTION OF GREAT PROBLEM
"Have I said that the passage of this amend
ment is a vitally necessary war measure, and
do you need further proof? Do you stand la
need of trust o other peoples and of the trust
of our women? Is that trust an asset or Is it
not? I tell you plainly, as commander-in-chief
of- our armies and of the gallant men In onr
fleets, as the present spokesman of this people .
in our dealings with the men and women
throughout the world who are now our partners,
as the responsible head of a great government
which stands and is questioned day by day as
to its purposes, its principles, its hopes, whether
they be serviceable to men everywhere or only A
to itself, and who must, himself answer these
questionings or be shamed, as the guide and
director of forces caucht in the Krip of war and
by the same token in need of every material j
and spiritual resource this great nation pos
sesses, I tell you plainly that this measure
which I urge upon you is vital to the winning
of thewar and to the energies alike of prepara
tion and of battle.
"And not to the winning of the war only. It is
Yital to the right solution of the great problems
Which wo must settle, and settle immediately,
when the war is oyer. We shall need then a
vision of affairs which is theirs, and, as we haTfl
never needed them before, the sympathy and in
side and clear moral instinct of tho women of
the world. The problems of that time will strike
to the roots of many things that we have jo
hitherto questioned, and I for one believe that
our safety in those questioning days, as wel as
our Comprehension, of matters that touch society
to . the quick, will depend upon the direct and
authoritative participation of women in our coun
sels. We shall need their moral sense to pre
serve what is right and fine and worthy to our
system of life as well as to discover just what
it is that ought to be purified and reformed.
Without their counsellings we shall be only ha"
wise. x
"That is my case. This is my appeal. Many
may deny its validity, if they choose, but no one
can brush aside or answer the arguments upon
which it is based. The executive tasks of this war
rest upon me. I ask that you lighten them anfl
place in my hands instruments, spiritual instru
ments, which I do not now possess, which I soreiy
need, and which I have daijy to apologize ior
not being able to employ." '
BulcraHn. in nnnHv& nnunfrv flint, made a had
guess when it came to figuring who was goltf J
to come out oh ton in this world's struggle w
. . . . - ...nir m
astery. Tho contrast between tue ,
m
mastery, tho contrast between me '
Which the alliGR rn. if nnrl Mia ruthless TOW"
and -looting of Roumania by Germany w ; D
annthnr rlomnnatfaHnn nf iUa rl Iffprfiiice betw"
culture' and kultur.
make the
u tiie Kaiser's press bureau can luan $
German people believe that the American"
rlrtPnn't nmmmf .,,,!,. l,o linsn't SOHcU "
. difficulties. The. Germans at the front who u
been up against-the Yanks remain to ne -vinced,
?r'
-1 ' Jh- -
'
a.' tt" t;!jii(
